User equipment, base station and methods in a radio communications network

Abstract

According to a first aspect of embodiments herein, the object is achieved by a method performed by a User Equipment (UE) for monitoring a beam transmitted by a base station in a radio communications network. The base station is serving the UE. The UE monitors a reference signal related to the beam, from the base station. Each time a quality of the reference signal is below a first threshold, the UE generates an Out-Of-Synchronization (OOS) event. When the number of OOS events reaches an OOS Beam Failure Detection (BFD) threshold, the UE triggers a beam recovery preparation procedure, and when the number of OOS events reaches an OOS Radio Link Monitoring (RLM), threshold, the UE starts an RLF timer.

What is claimed is: 
     
       1. A user equipment (UE) having a client application stored in a computer-readable storage medium, the client application being associated with an over-the-top (OTT) service and executable on the UE to transmit user data to a host application associated with the OTT service via a wireless communication network, the client application being operable to initiate transmission of the user data to or from the host application by processing circuitry and transceiver circuitry of the UE, the UE being configured to:
 monitor a reference signal related to a beam transmitted by a base station serving the UE; 
 generate an Out-Of-Synchronization (OOS) event each time a quality of the reference signal is below a first threshold; 
 trigger a beam recovery preparation procedure when the number of OOS events reaches an OOS Beam Failure Detection (BFD) threshold, the OOS BFD threshold being lower than an OOS Radio Link Monitoring (RLM) threshold used by the UE for starting a radio link failure (RLF) timer; and 
 receive or transmit user data. 
 
     
     
       2. The UE of  claim 1 , the UE further configured to:
 receive, from the base station, a configuration comprising at least one reference signal related to the beam, which reference signal is to be monitored by the UE for BFD and cell-level RLM. 
 
     
     
       3. The UE of  claim 1 , the UE further configured to:
 each time a quality of the reference signal is above a second threshold, generate an In-Synchronization (IS) event. 
 
     
     
       4. The UE of  claim 3 , wherein:
 triggering the beam recovery preparation procedure is performed when furthermore, a number of IS events is below an IS BFD threshold. 
 
     
     
       5. A host computer configured to operate in a communication system to provide an over-the-top (OTT) service, the host computer comprising:
 processing circuitry configured to initiate transmissions to receive or provide user data associated with the OTT service; and 
 a network interface configured to facilitate reception or transmission of the user data from a user equipment (UE) via a network node in a cellular network, the network node having a communication interface and processing circuitry, the processing circuitry of the network node configured to perform operations comprising:
 configuring a UE to monitor a reference signal related to a beam transmitted by the network node; 
 configuring the UE with an OOS Beam Failure Detection (BFD) threshold to be used by the UE to trigger a beam recovery preparation procedure when a number of out-of-synchronization (OOS) events generated by the UE reaches the OOS BFD threshold, the OOS BFD threshold being lower than an OOS Radio Link Monitoring (RLM) threshold used by the UE for starting a radio link failure (RLF) timer; and 
 continuing transmission of user data based on the beam recovery preparation procedure. 
 
 
     
     
       6. The host computer of  claim 5 , the operations further comprising:
 configuring the UE with a second threshold to be used by the UE to, each time a quality of the reference signal is above a second threshold, generate an In-Synchronization (IS) event. 
 
     
     
       7. The host computer of  claim 6 , the operations further comprising:
 configuring the UE with an in-sync (IS) BFD threshold to be used by the UE to trigger the beam recovery preparation procedure when, furthermore, a number of IS events is below the IS BFD threshold. 
 
     
     
       8. The host computer of  claim 7 , the operations further comprising:
 configuring the UE with an IS RLM threshold to be used by the UE to start the RLF timer when, furthermore, the number of IS events is below the IS RLM threshold. 
 
     
     
       9. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium comprising, stored thereupon, a client application associated with a UE operable in a wireless communication network, the client application being executable on the UE to transmit or receive user data to or from a host application associated with a host computer providing an over-the-top (OTT) service via the wireless communication network, the client application comprising instructions configured to cause the UE to:
 initiate transmission of the user data to or from the host application by processing circuitry and transceiver circuitry of the UE, the UE being configured to: 
 monitor a reference signal related to a beam transmitted by a network node serving the UE; 
 generate an Out-Of-Synchronization (OOS) event each time a quality of the reference signal is below a first threshold; 
 trigger a beam recovery preparation procedure when the number of OOS events reaches an OOS Beam Failure Detection (BFD) threshold, the OOS BFD threshold being lower than an OOS Radio Link Monitoring (RLM) threshold used by the UE for starting a radio link failure (RLF) timer; and 
 receive or transmit user data. 
 
     
     
       10. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of  claim 9 , wherein the client application further comprises instructions configured to cause the UE to:
 receive from the network node a configuration comprising at least one reference signal related to the beam, which reference signal is to be monitored by the UE for BFD, and cell-level RLM. 
 
     
     
       11. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of  claim 9 , wherein the client application further comprises instructions configured to cause the UE to:
 each time a quality of the reference signal is above a second threshold, generate an In-Synchronization (IS) event. 
 
     
     
       12. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of  claim 11 , wherein the client application further comprises instructions configured to cause the UE to:
 trigger the beam recovery preparation procedure when, furthermore, a number of IS events is below an IS BFD threshold. 
 
     
     
       13. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of  claim 11 , wherein the client application further comprises instructions configured to cause the UE to start the RLF timer when, furthermore, the number of IS events is below an IS RLM threshold. 
     
     
       14. A communication system operable to enable provision of an over-the-top (OTT) service, the communication system comprising:
 a host computer configured to provide the OTT service, the host computer comprising: 
 processing circuitry configured to initiate transmissions to receive or provide user data associated with the OTT service; and 
 a network interface configured to facilitate reception or transmission of the user data from a user equipment (UE) via a network node in a cellular network, the network node having a communication interface and processing circuitry, the processing circuitry of the network node configured to perform operations comprising:
 configuring a UE to monitor a reference signal related to a beam transmitted by the network node; 
 configuring the UE with an OOS Beam Failure Detection (BFD) threshold to be used by the UE to trigger a beam recovery preparation procedure when a number of out-of-synchronization (OOS) events generated by the UE reaches the OOS BFD threshold, the OOS BFD threshold being lower than an OOS Radio Link Monitoring (RLM) threshold used by the UE for starting a radio link failure (RLF) timer; and 
 
 continuing transmission of user data based on the beam recovery preparation procedure.